Damn those Jews!!!
Damn them all to Hell!!!
That red country that you can barely see. Those are the Jews. That is the country called Israel. They are the most powerful country in the World. They must be since all of that green that surrounds them is Muslim territory.
Europeans (and others) like to argue that Americas contributions to winning World War II were not as substantial as the Russians because the Russians lost so many men. What they don’t like to talk about is the tactics employed by the Russians. Sending five boys carrying one rifle between them straight forward into enemy machine guns. That’s going to produce a hell of a lot of casualties.
They also like to say that without Russia, the Allies would have lost. Germany would have won. Why? Because all of those Russian Divisions held busy 100 or so German Divisions. But who supplied all of those Russian Divisions who were fighting those 100 German Divisions?
America. That’s who. The US supplied thousands of Tanks and Trucks, Ammunition and Weapons to the Soviets.
All that and it wasn’t our war to begin with…
Roosevelt had to trick the American people into joining the War by allowing the Japanese to sink half the fleet at Pearl Harbor and then trumping the losses up as if it were a a crushing blow to our Navy. Amazing that those Aircraft Carriers were conveniently out of the way during the attack.
My take on WAR by Sebastian Junger from a Political Forum to which I contribute (or decimate…depending on your view point…lol)
It’s a damn good read.
I read it in two days while drinking beers in Phnom Penh. I couldn’t put the damn thing down.
Closest thing I’ve ever read to being there. Though, I’ve never been in that kind of situation as those in the Korengal Valley. He gets the feel of Afghanistan and conveys it to the reader as flawlessly as it is possible to do on the written page.
Best book I’ve read about the Afghan War.
The guy captured it perfectly. It’s in the little nuances and in the way that he talks to the reader.
The story of those soldiers in that valley is well worth the read.
And Sebastion Junger has balls the size of Afghanistan. That guy voluntarily walked out and was airlifted into combat so that he could tell that story as authentically as possible.
While I was there, I went out with the expectation that I’d run into something. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. I never came close to what those guys experienced though. Not remotely close, I may as well have been on Mars as compared to their experience. BUT I NEVER went out there HOPING for contact. I was always hoping for as little action as possible.
Those guys in that Valley have my utmost respect for having been there and Junger too for writing that book.
Though, I didn’t go through the crucible that those guy have gone through, I know exactly what they are talking about when the express their apprehension to returning Stateside.
After being out there, there’s no way that living in America can measure up to the experience of being out there. Where life can be measured in inches and seconds and chance serves you as well (or as poorly) as preparation and planning.
I don’t know…I’m having a hard time not going on and on about this book.
If you are interested in Afghanistan or the Military, Read It!
If you are looking for a political hit book….this one isn’t your book.
I hope that no Republican types starts trying to target this book as Liberal writing and that no Democrat tries to hype it as an anti-War book. It’s so much more.
So much more…
How can it be when scenes like this are common place? This is the casket of one of our fallen Soldiers. Mohsin Naqvi. He gave his life fighting against the monsters who have co-opted Islam into their insidious aims to crush freedom in the lands of Muslim peoples and ultimately all peoples across the globe. The kid on the floor mourning is Hassan Naqvi. Is there someone who has the nerve to tell this kid that Islam killed his brother.
Islam is not the enemy. Wahhabism is the enemy. Extremism is the enemy. Extemism in any form. Political, civil, religious, cultural. It matters not.
Is this the Thai government attempt to divert the countries attention away from the PAD protests and madness? What is going on in the Land of Smiles? It seems to be going insane. Between the PAD, the Muslims in the South and the Cambodian border, Thailand has become the land of division, protest and madness.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered fresh troops to the border with an ultimatum to Thailand: Pull military forces back today or the border will become a “life and death battle zone”.
Hun Sen told reporters in Phnom Penh that he had warned Thailand’s visiting Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat that without a quick pullout, Thai soldiers could face being fired upon by Cambodian troops in “large-scale armed conflict”.
“If they cannot withdraw tonight, they must withdraw tomorrow,” said Hun Sen.
“We have tried to be patient, but I told the Thai foreign minister today that the area is a life-and-death battle zone.”
His comments came after talks with Mr Sompong in Phnom Penh.
Mr Sompong also met with his counterpart Hor Namhong in a bid to resolve the dispute over the area near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
The Cambodian foreign minister said yesterday’s talks failed to end in agreement because his Thai opposite number “could not sign anything”.
Hun Sen and Hor Namhong both told reporters that Cambodia could choose to take the border dispute before an international court if it was not resolved soon.
The comments made by the Cambodian prime minister and foreign minister surprised Mr Sompong and Thai officials, who were adamant that the meetings had not been a failure.
Mr Sompong said the tone during the meetings between the two countries had been different as the Cambodian leaders agreed that both sides had to be patient in resolving the border spat.
He said no Thai troop withdrawals would be made from the 4.6 sq km overlapping area between Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket and Preah Vihear province of Cambodia until the dispute over ownership is cleared through negotiations in the Joint Boundary Commission that was set up to demarcate the land border.
Thailand reiterated its ownership over the area, Mr Sompong said in Bangkok and rushed to report the talks to Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
Suranaree Task Force commander Maj-Gen Kanok Netrakavaesana will hold talks with his Cambodian counterpart tomorrow on the border issues and the Thai and Cambodian defence ministers will meet next Tuesday , according to Mr Sompong.
Cambodian Deputy Defence Minister Gen Neang Phat said more Cambodian troops were heading to the area after up to 500 Thai soldiers had tried to cross the border near an ancient Hindu temple that is claimed by both countries.
“We are building up our troops at the border in response to Thailand, but I cannot reveal the number,” he told reporters.
Maj-Gen Srey Deok, who oversees the Cambodian military in the disputed area, said: “Thai troops have already entered the area. They are confronting our troops.”
But Maj-Gen Kanok denied that more troops had been sent to the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple.
Thailand and Cambodia have 10 soldiers each at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple and 45 around the compound on joint patrol, according to the agreement between the two countries to ease border tension.
The two countries also have back-up troops near the border.
The number of soldiers there remained unchanged, Maj-Gen Kanok said.
Maj-Gen Kanok slammed Cambodia for distorting information and taking advantage of the political crisis in Thailand to launch an offensive move for its own political benefit.
The Suranaree chief, his patience wearing thin, called for a quick solution to the border spat and a clear direction to be provided by the government as it could become an armed conflict if it was left unsettled.
“I want the government to solve this problem and make it clear what to do. If it is left this way, nobody knows what is going to happen,” he said.
Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia first flared in July after the Preah Vihear temple was awarded World Heritage status by the World Heritage Committee.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belongs to Cambodia, but the surrounding land remains in dispute.
Tensions escalated into a military confrontation in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks.
The two countries have swapped accusations of violating each other’s territory in the dispute.
(with Agency reports)
My Grandfather brought these photographs home from the war. I am told that he was friends with Ernie Pyle. The famous World War II journalist. Grandma had the photo album hidden away in her house. She was afraid that something might happen to them. I think they are a treasure and should be shared. Fortunately, back in 2001 she let me borrow them long enough for me to scan them. I have wondered at a means of sharing them. Now that I have a blog, this is the perfect vehicle for such an endeavor. I’ll bring them out in categories that seem logical. The Bomb. The treaty. The people of Asia. The Soldiers.
These are pictures of the bomb. One of them. Exploding over Nagasaki or Hiroshima. A terrible decision that saved American lives. Possibly millions. But ended hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives and affected the next generations terribly.
War is a terrifyingly, wretched endeavor.
“A bright light filled the plane. The first shock-wave hit us. We were eleven and a half miles slant range from the atomic explosion but the whole airplane cracked and crinkled from the blast… We turned back to look at Hiroshima. The city was hidden by that awful cloud… mushrooming, terrible and incredibly tall.”
- Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 Enola Gay
“I become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.”
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, a scientist involve with the development of the atomic bomb (July 16, 1945 quoting the Hindu Scriptures after the first atomic bomb detonation) [summited by Jim Marchetti]
Saddam looking frazzled. It’s a pretty humorous photo. He certainly doesn’t look like the guy who would later appear in court attempting to bully the judges, prosecutors and the judiciary process as a whole. He no longer looks like the man who stood on a balcony of one of his many palaces and told the Iraqi Army that the “mother of all battles” is upon us and that victory is assured them by Allah.
These are some photos from the capture of Saddam Hussein. A friend gave me these a couple of years back. He knew some of the guys on the Task Force that caught Saddam. Below are photos of Saddam just after he was pulled from the spider hole in which he was found. There is also a photo of the entrance to his hiding place and some of the money that he had stashed with him.
I blacked out the faces. I figured there may still be some folks running around out there who would rather not be easily identified.
